‘Botched’s Dr. Paul Nassif Talks Mental Health’s Tie to Plastic Surgery Ahead of New Season (Exclusive)

There’s nothing wrong with a nip or a tuck, but Botched’s Dr. Paul Nassif and Dr. Terry Dubrow have to be careful they’re considering mental health before taking on a new case. Nassif opened up to PopCulture ahead of Botched‘s seventh season premiere Tuesday, May 18 about the importance of caring for all aspects of their patients, even if that means not taking on their case.

Over the past year, the NassifMD Dermaceuticals founder has been seeing far more skincare treatments, facial rejuvenations, eye and neck lifts than other surgeries as people have been spending much of their time masked and concentrating on their upper face. Doing these more routine procedures can give people “a little bit of a break from what [patients] have been through” during the pandemic, but balancing that with an awareness of mental health is vital.

“As plastic surgeons, we’re also psychologists,” he shared. “I gotta tell you, the mental health [aspect] of being cooped up for a year, it really bothers a lot of people.” Patients with body dysmorphic disorder, OCD and severe depression can be made “worse” by operating on them, so Nassif is vigilant for red flags that patients might not be going into a procedure with accurate expectations or sound reasoning.

Plastic surgeons learn “generally in theory” about these red flags in school, but Nassif admits it’s mostly through seeing patients throughout their career that they learn what to look for. “All young doctors are going to operate on the wrong patient,” he told PopCulture. “We have to make sure we get all those red flags and figure out do we need psychiatric clearance to clear the surgery … and even sometimes we miss them. We make a mistake and operate on the wrong patient and might make it worse psychologically.”

It’s a balancing act, especially considering the challenging cases Nassif and Dubrow take on. This upcoming season, the team will be examining a woman that grew an extra set of softball-sized breasts in her armpits that lactate when she breastfeeds, a patient left with a life-altering “shark bite” sized hole in his abdomen and others who have been botched either by nature or a previous surgeon.

“Every one of these damn things is hard,” Nassif explained of the “emotionally charged” season. “No matter who you are, you could have complications,” he said of the people who come to him for help. “You can have good doctors and it can still happen … but a problem is a lot of patients are having things done [by doctors] who are not qualified and it’s based on price. …It’s going to be something that’s never going to stop.” Botched returns for a seventh season on Tuesday, May 18 at 9 p.m. ET on E!